Made it to the hall around 11 am - it was quite empty. Not surprising, since it was a day off and folks were exploring what Las Vegas has to offer - overheard quite a few were planning to go to Grand Canyon/Hoover Dam. Ran into the owner of TableTennisDaily forum:

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Hit for a bit with my club mates, then a couple of volunteers from Seattle challenged us to a doubles match (we lost in 5, after being up 2:0):

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Caught a few minutes of Q&A with Rosskopf and CWX, but skipped photo sessions. Was going to attend CWX's seminar on LP play, but our aforementioned doubles match went 5 games, so I missed it ( I think it was advertised as 45-min session, but was done quickly in 15 min at most.

SE singles consolation bracket is tomorrow - have no desire to venture outside, where it's 106F/41C right this moment. so happy to stay in hotel room and watch World Cup match replays.

The seminar is up online on Facebook. I can send it to you if you have a FB account. Quite honestly I was expecting more. He spent way too much time trying to prove that you can side-swipe every single thing that comes your way. I didn't have patience to watch the whole thing

Showed up around 10 am to watch a friend play his consolation match (he won easily 3:0), then headed to practice area to meet PRW.

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He does have a big FH loop, which I had trouble chopping down. Watched his match, which PRW won despite my coaching.

My opponent for the first SE match (consolation bracket) did not show up, so I was through. Wandered the hall finding friends who were still playing - most were doing quite well. Umpired one match with my club mate, which he lost in a dramatic fashion, after being up 2:0, but getting frustrated later on.

Played my next SE against Guido, a German guy who mostly hit flat in the warm up, which he won convincingly. Tables turned in the match, where he did not really hit that much - I won first two games pretty comfortably at 11:7 or so. Fell behind in the 3rd 4:8 and 6:10, but managed to come back and win it 16:14.

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After that it was time to roam the hall once again and swap match stories. Watched few matches in the main brackets, but did not get a chance to see famous players.

My next SE match was at 5 pm against Bertrand from Belgium. He did have a very consistent loop, and I lost two games pretty badly, and then made it much closer in the third by switching to chopping, but still lost 11:13, I think. Ran into 'not enough space' scenario on the sides a few times, but then, should not give my opponent such angles too.

that was a fun tournament - and great to meet up with pgpg, who was kind enough to warm up with me a couple of times.

Had a good run through the 055s consolation, getting into the last 16 (and a match point to get into the last eight). In the round of 32, was lucky enough to pull back from 2-1 games, 8-1 down to win the 4th game 11-8 and then just take the 5th.

Had a great run in the consolation doubles as well, getting through into the last 8 (with a partner I had never met before). So, now off to Hawaii for a well-earned break!

actually: a week before the tournament, I changed my fh rubber back to Rakza7 soft (that I used to use about 2 years ago) from Tenergy 05 FX. The slight loss in spped is more than offset by better control and confidence in the short game.

Our first match was scheduled for 11:30, but weirdly enough, the next bracket was at 11:45, which was somewhat optimistic. Nevertheless, our first match' opponents did not show up, so we got to play French pair next.

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We won pretty easily 3:0, mostly by being more consistent and starting to figure out how best use my pips to set us up.

Germans were next - they were quite good at playing the angles, but we prevailed 3:1.

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Swiss/German pair was next - in this one we somehow always ended up pushed away from the table and losing long-range rallies. Lost a very close one 0:3, and that was it!

thanks - yes, I had a great game against Warren. I won the first game easily, and then he mixed it up with the Dornenglanz, making it very uncomfortable for me - I started to miss loops with the spin variation. I was lucky to just get through, it could have gone either way.... DG is a really good rubber for varying the spin with some nasty sink balls!

* Win one game* Win one match* Win SE match * Advance to the main bracket

3 out of 4 is not too bad, and the last one was within reach. There is always the next one, WVC2020 in Bordeaux

Things I saw:

* Guy playing with a paddle that had ginormous handle.* Dude playing with two paddles, at least in warmup* Penholder with anti on both sides - played practice match against him and it went 5 games, but I don't remember who won * French chopper calling an edge ball against himself (no one else saw it apparently) at 9:9 (1/8th on Saturday, I think) . He still won the game 24:22 (!) and a match.* Guys I never heard of who pushed folks like Persson to 5 games (and had 2 match points) or were able to smash Chen Weixing's chops with relative ease, even low ones.

Things I wish I knew before going:

* There is a tradition to exchange small souvenirs with your opponents: sticker, keychain, postcard. That was probably worth telling to first timers like myself in advance - since I was stuck with nothing to reciprocate with.* Minimal attention to racket control - nobody complained about my DG that started to crumble around the edges.* Playing level is high, but not outrageously so. By my estimate to win 50+ you had to be ~2700 (with Persson in the mix), and around 2300 for consolation bracket (Rich DeWitt lost in 5 there to a Swedish guy, after being up 9:5 in the 5th...)* Draw is hugely important. I could've easily went without winning a single game, forget about matches.* It is lots of fun and I wished I went earlier, like in 2016.

* VKM/Victas Vs>401/P4 (1mm) - when I held it I immediately thought "ooh, handle IS comfortable", so perhaps Sword 309 handle indeed could be improved . P4 felt nice too, and Vs>401 was fine, but had this funny click on flat hit chops (which might be good as a feedback mechanism).

* Dr. N Barricade/Reflectoid/Air UpUpUp (1mm). That one was the most interesting: I always struggled to figure out how to use it, since it's so slow AND light. It has this funny feature that flat hits are super slow (Reflectoid has a dampening sponge, I think), but brushing strokes have decent pace (meaning that they actually get over the net 90% of the time ). After 5 minutes I started to realize that it actually a) has lots of control on both sides, b) enforces the habit of brushing stroke on FH, and c) encourages mentality of "putting the ball on the table" instead of "killing it whenever I have a chance". Feels almost like a training aid, and I am actually tempted to try it in a league session to see how I would do there.

Things are looking fine with normal setup - was experimenting quite a bit with FH shots, just to see how 'go forward' motion looks and feels. Decent consistency so far.

Did take Barricade setup to the league night and went 2-4 (but I'm pretty sure I'd have the same record with the Sword one). Beat my nemesis (PH blocker) and took a game for the first time off one of the better players (really interesting blocker type, ~2100). People two tables away commented on the weird sound it makes (Reflectoid on Barricade does sound funny, especially on flat hits and drives...).

Here is what I think about it so far:

* Better control, meaning that more shots land. * Much easier to receive short and play angles - having slow setup definitely helps here .* Still think it promotes a brushing stroke on FH.* Opponents seem to be more frustrated by Air UpUpUp(0.6mm?) close to the table shots compared to DG - at least two told me so. Probably will order another sheet to try it on Sword.* Most likely requires slightly different tactics.* Chopping IS easier and actually produces pretty heavy backspin.

Tempted to try something more livelier on the FH with Barricade (AK47 Blue?).

Going slow: switching to Barricade for the time being . Put AK47 Blue on FH and having lots of fun so far. Much easier to defend with, because it's light and slow. Makes it easier to react and more of desperation shots land on the table. Also feels like it makes it easier to cover wide FH.

Going forward: I think I finally figured out what everyone was telling me about going forward in the FH stroke and 'covering the ball'. It's a bit of weird feeling after having stroke that was probably way too vertical, but does make sense and more balls land (trajectory is a bit lower and there seems to be more spin). The thing is that I am not really finishing high in a 'salute', but it is now more of 'finish in front of your body, more like at the shoulder level'. Different, but works.

It is fascinating how relatively easy it is to do new stroke in practice/warmup, but how difficult it is to do the same in an actual match. Still reverting to flat hits in game situations - some of them are spectacular , but still, I know that it was the wrong shot, never mind the result.

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